Telecom New Zealand will provide unlimited residential broadband throughout 2006 to celebrate its launch of the next generation ADSL2+ technology, which can offer speeds of up to 24mbit/s.

General Manager Weird Davy Crickett says the offer shows that Telecom is serious about accelerating broadband uptake in New Zealand. It is also evidence of Telecom's commitment to the country's e-conomy, and proof that further regulation is not needed.

"Without free broadband, New Zealand risks slipping further behind the OECD in the broadband stakes," Davy Crickett adds. "Our next generation network is ready to take the nation up into the top half of the OECD," he says.

As the new broadband offer is free, it won't be made available to wholesale providers, Crickett says. "While we are a generous telco, we are not able to wholesale our products at negative margins," he adds.

From end of April, customers can apply for the free broadband by calling Telecom. In order to take advantage of the free broadband, customers need to upgrade their modems to the latest Sussco HYspeed model, with built-in 802.11g and 24-port gigabit Ethernet switch. These are available to Telecom customers for an annual rental of $2,499.00 including GST on a 48 month contract.

What you have written could easily end up being anything but an April fools day joke.

BT are introducing free broadband with their NGN - What would happen in NZ if Telecom gave you a free broadband connection with your phoneline? Say 256kbps internet that you could pay extra to upgrade? Would that be seen as anti-competitive?

Tricky question that. BT doesn't have monopoly on the local loop anymore however - it's making good money as a wholesaler - so I don't think it applies here. Also, why would Telecom give that 256k connection to you for free when it can charge for it? There's no competitive pressure to provide such a product in NZ, in other words.

In order to take advantage of the free broadband, customers need to upgrade their modems to the latest Sussco HYspeed model, with built-in 802.11g and 24-port gigabit Ethernet switch. These are available to Telecom customers for an annual rental of $2,499.00 including GST on a 48 month contract.